Also Read: Work Begins To Hand Over Second Batch Of Hostages To Red Cross: Report
The Israeli hostages were handed over to the Red Cross Committee
Television footage from the Egyptian side showed the hostages crossing the Rafah border after leaving Gaza. Hamas handed over the hostages to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) late on Saturday. According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, the 13 freed Israelis included six women and seven children and teenagers. “The freed hostages are going to hospitals in Israel, where they will be reunited with their families,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement.
39 Palestinian prisoners have also been released from prison
39 Palestinians, including 33 minors, were released from Israeli prisons in exchange for Israeli hostages. Al Jazeera TV aired live footage of a Red Cross bus carrying a large number of Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli prisons to the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Bituniya. A Palestinian official familiar with the diplomacy said Hamas would maintain a four-day ceasefire agreed with Israel, the first lull in fighting. On October 7, Hamas fighters began a rampage into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 240 hostages. .
In response to that attack, Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas, the terrorist group that rules the Gaza Strip. It is constantly carrying out ground and air attacks. Palestinian health officials said on Saturday that about 14,800 people have been killed in Israeli attacks, about 40% of them children. The hostage exchange comes after Hamas released 13 other Israeli hostages, including children and elderly people, in exchange for the release of 39 Palestinian women and youths from Israeli prisons on Friday.
What is the controversy?
Let us tell you that the agreement between Israel and Hamas was in danger of being derailed, as the armed wing of Hamas said it was delaying the second round of hostage releases scheduled for Saturday until Israel meets all the terms of the ceasefire, including commitments. To allow aid trucks into northern Gaza. Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan said only 65 of the 340 aid trucks that entered Gaza since Friday had reached northern Gaza, “less than half of what Israel agreed to.” The IDF said that aid inside the Gaza Strip was implemented by the United Nations and international organizations.
Al-Qassam Brigades has accused Israel
The United Nations confirmed that 61 trucks of aid had been delivered to northern Gaza on Saturday, the most since October 7, including food, water and emergency medical supplies. Al-Qassam Brigades also said that Israel failed to honor the conditions for the release of Palestinian prisoners and that Palestinian detainees were not released based on seniority.
Majid al-Ansari, spokesman for Qatar’s foreign ministry, said on Saturday that there had been “a lot of discussion” on how and who should be prioritized for release. The decision on which Palestinian prisoners should be released first was based on the time spent in Israeli prisons. “Now we’re hoping that on the second or third day of this break, we’ll be able to bring to light many of the details that make publication so difficult,” he told CNN.
Israel said the truce could be extended if Hamas continued to release about 10 hostages a day. A Palestinian source said 100 hostages could be freed.
Somewhere happy and somewhere sad
Saturday became a day of high-profile diplomacy for Qatari and Egyptian mediators, as hostage families waited hours to be reunited with their loved ones. “My heart is broken because my son Itay is still in Hamas captivity in Gaza,” Mirit Regev, the mother of Maya Regev, who was freed late Saturday, said in a statement released by the Hostage and Missing Families Forum. Among those freed was nine-year-old Irish-Israeli hostage Emily Hand, who was initially presumed dead.
“This is a day of great joy and relief for Emily Hand and her family. Ireland is redoubling efforts to work towards a permanent ceasefire,” Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said in a statement.
Also Read- Hamas Delays Release of Second Group of Hostages, Israel Gives Until Midnight
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